“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.”
—Ezekiel 4:9 (NIV)
This is one of my favorite breads..it is not too difficult to make and it is super-nutritious. I’ve posted on this bread and variations of it in the past (click here, here, and here), and this is a revised version of those recipes. In this recipe I use 100% whole wheat flour (which I did in this recipe as well), but what is really different–and while this may seem insignificant, it is really not–is that I reduced the amount of liquid in the biga (pre-ferment) from 1 cup to 1/2 cup. This makes a somewhat dry starter but it keeps the subsequent dough from being too wet (which was a concern I’ve heard voiced by readers and bakers who tried the recipe). Another thing is that I added a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten. Because whole wheat flour has less gluten than white flour, and the high concentration of grains, I felt this bread would benefit from a bit of added gluten…and it worked great. I had intended on offering metric measurements for this recipe for readers/bakers outside the US (purchased a digital scale recently), but alas time got away from me. I’ll do it in the future. Anyhow, if you enjoy baking, or even if you have never baked bread but want to, I hope you try this recipe…it is not as difficult as it may seem at first, but it is really delicious.
To learn more about my views of this bread, with more explicit directions and pictures, click here.
2 tablespoons white beans
2 tablespoons redbeans
2 tablespoons lentils
2tablespoons barley
2 tablespoons millet
2 tablespoonsbulgur wheat
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2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoonsinstant yeast
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4 cups whole wheatflour
1/4 cup olive oil
3 teaspoons kosher
3teaspoons instant yeast
Boil the grains in the water inlogical succession according to cooking times: first the white andred beans (about 60 minutes), when they are soft add the, speltberries, lentils, and barley (about 30 minutes); lastly, add themillet and bulgar (about 10 minutes). The key is that after eachaddition the previous grain must be soft enough so that when all ofthe grains are in the pot they will all be equally soft; undercookedgrains (especially the beans) can really ruin this bread. And as thegrains cook add more water to the pot as necessary because thecooking liquid, which is full of nutrients, will become part of therecipe (keeping a lid on the pot will slow it’s evaporation). Afterthe grains are cooked allow them to cool in the liquid to roomtemperature, refrigerating if necessary. After the grains are cooleddrain them, squeezing them with your hands or the back of a spoon,reserving the cooking liquid.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface andcut it into 2 or 3 pieces. Shape into loaves and place into lightlyoiled pans. Loosely cover the loaves with plastic wrap and allow toferment for 30-60 minutes, or until double in size and when gentlytouched with a fingertip an indentation remains.
Bake thebreads for about 30-40 minutes, adding steam to the oven a few times(either with ice cubes or a spray bottle) and rotating the breadsevery ten minutes. The breads are done when they are dark brown andsound hollow when tapped upon. Remove the breads from their pans andallow them to cook on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes beforeslicing.
Urban Simplicty 